A former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, has acknowledged that his principal’s leadership was slow.
Shehu, however, said that Buhari’s slowness was due to the former President’s transformation from a former military ruler to a committed democrat who chose to follow due process.
According to him, while most Nigerians were impatient and wanted quick fixes, Buhari could not be bent as he chose to abide by democratic norms.
Shehu stated this during an interview on Arise News on Tuesday night, “Was he slow? Yeah, he himself had joked about all of that,” he said.
He added: “And he kept on saying, when he came in, he was brash as military head of state, he just did things on impulse, and he ordered people to be locked up.
“But this time, as a converted democrat, he needed to follow the due processes that the law says he should follow.
“What is wrong with that? Nigerians are very impatient. We want to rush through things. But he says, ‘no. The democratic process sets the rules. And I must not go against them.’”
While many Nigerians believed that the former president did not know much about things happening under his watch as President, Shehu said that his principal may have been the most aware and well-informed president Nigeria has ever had.
Shehu said that Buhari deliberately allowed his work to speak for itself rather than chase media attention or public applause.
“This thing about Buhari being unaware, it is totally, totally misplaced. If you permit me, I would say that he perhaps would pass as the most aware president Nigeria has ever had,” he stated.
Buhari was the first opposition leader to defeat an incumbent government when he beat Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to emerge president on the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2015.
Buhari ruled Nigeria for eight years, introducing economic policies that were widely criticised by Nigerians.
Many Nigerians still believe that the Buhari administration was responsible for the present economic challenges and hardship they are facing today.
